NBA Roundup : Malone Scores 35 as 76ers Beat Bucks

Moses Malone scored a game-high 35 points and rookie Terry Catledge sparked a fourth-quarter surge Sunday night to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a 105-97 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks at Philadelphia.

The 76ers were leading, 77-75, at the start of the fourth quarter when Catledge scored 8 of their next 11 points to give his team an 88-79 lead. Julius Erving followed with a finger-roll basket to make the score 90-79.

“I just thought it was the fourth quarter and Moses (Malone) was on the bench, Doc (Erving) was on the bench and Charles (Barkley) was on the bench, and I felt we needed some points inside,” Catledge said. “I tried to get myself inside and in a position to score.”

The 6-8 Catledge took advantage of a height advantage over Bucks’ forward Jeff Lamp, who is two inches shorter, to go to the basket successfully.

Milwaukee pulled to within 100-97 on a rebound basket by Sidney Moncrief with 38 seconds to play, but Philadelphia’s Sedale Threatt made two free throws with 34 seconds left to secure the victory.

Erving scored 20 and Maurice Cheeks 17 for Philadelphia, while Moncrief had 28 and Paul Pressey 17 for the Bucks.

Milwaukee forward Terry Cummings fouled out late in the game after scoring six points, the first time in his career that he had scored less than 10 points in a game, a streak covering 239 games.

The victory for the 76ers followed a lackluster 107-95 loss Friday night to the San Antonio Spurs at the Spectrum, but Coach Matt Guokas was not ready to declare that the 76ers had solved all their problems.

“This was a good effort for us, but we have to be more consistent,” he said. “We can’t do it one night and not the next.”

Portland 110, Cleveland 107--Center Sam Bowie scored 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Trail Blazers past the Cavaliers at Portland.

Cleveland’s World B. Free scored 30 points, which leaves him only 27 short of Pete Maravich, who is 31st on the NBA all-time scoring list.

Kiki Vandeweghe had 21 points for Portland, while forward Roy Hinson scored 18 to follow Free in scoring for the Cavaliers. Bowie hit 12 straight free throws.

The victory was Portland’s third in a row, making the Blazers 7-2. Cleveland is now 3-6.

Golden State 117, Sacramento 111--Forward Purvis Short scored 15 points in the third period and finished with 21 as the Warriors won their third in a row, beating the Kings at Oakland.

Larry Smith, Golden State’s other starting forward, also scored 21 points.

Otis Thorpe, with 24 points, and Larry Drew with 23 led the Kings.

The victory improved Golden State’s record to 4-5, while Sacramento fell to 2-5.